Part 17 (1/2)

I do not wish to converse this way, she insisted, halting her slow walk uphill.

Good. Neither do I. It is too dangerous.

Dangerous? No one can overhear us! I meant it is unpleasant.

No, Stella, it is dangerous. You and I are not the only ones who employ this method of communication, though the others are presently far away. Please, you have come this far; just twenty more paces?

'Far enough,' Heredrew said a few moments later.

She found him leaning against a metal rail built to guard against people falling from the street into the lower city. His long face, so reminiscent of Phemanderac's features-though arranged far more handsomely, of course-broke into a smile as she approached.

'You're early,' she said. 'Very early. And in the wrong place.'

'As are you. It took me some time to wake you, I confess, and even then you stayed abed for longer than I hoped. Events move apace. And I thought the girl with you might choose to betray our conversation. So I make no apology for waking you.'

'You woke me? You inhabit my dreams?' she asked, disgusted.

'Barely. But enough to wake you from them.'

'What is so important that you'd invade someone's sleeping mind?'

'The view from here is spectacular,' he said, ignoring the question. 'And will become more so as the dawn takes hold. This truly is a beautiful place.'

'Not as beautiful as the place you sunk below the waves,' Stella snapped. Anything to unsettle him, she thought. I have only one weapon.

'True,' he said, and she was unsure whether he answered her words or her thought.

'What do you have to say to me?'

'Just this. Many things are happening in the world, and you are ignorant of them all. I wanted to speak to you privately to offer you information and a choice.'

'I don't like being called ignorant.' The words sounded petulant even as she said them.

'Who does? I've admitted my own ignorance; how easy do you think it was for me to recognise this, let alone tell you?'

'The choice?' Stella pressed. She knew she was being manipulated, but what could she do? She did not have to act on anything he said. He could not force her...The truth was, she had no idea what he could and couldn't do.

'Walk away now and never think of me again. It would be the healthiest thing for you to do, in truth. With effort, together we could sever the blood-link between us, though I can do nothing about the blood itself. Then go and live your life as best you can. If you choose to do this, promise me one thing.'

'How can I promise when I have yet to hear the alternative?'

'True. Nevertheless, should you choose to walk away from me, promise you will give some thought to what you will say to me when we meet in the far future, the last two people alive, scouring the ruins of the world in search of anything salvageable.'

'You make no sense,' she said, but his words chilled her.

'I am saying that the inevitable result of you walking away from me today will be your inadvertent service of another, to the destruction of the world.'

'Hah. Your choice is already no choice, even before I have heard the other side of it. As you intended.'

'As I intended,' he acknowledged. 'There is no point in trying to outthink you.'

'Or outflatter me. The other choice, please?'

'Choose to listen to me as I tell you about the conflict that has already begun to destroy the world. If you agree to listen, you will have no choice, I believe, but to involve yourself in my schemes. Not because of my persuasive power, or any other compulsion I could lay on you-and you know I could; I am sure you remember-but because of your own conscience. Therefore you face your choice now. Listen or walk away.'

'I know one thing, Kannwar,' she said, using that name in this place for the first time. 'I know you will neither tell me all the truth nor give me a real choice. Should I defy you now, you will find some other way to compel me. I don't know what you've been doing for the last seventy years, but if you've given our time together any thought at all you'll have realised I defied you even when completely in your thrall. So, fair warning. If you compel me by any means, I will find a way to defy you and bring your schemes to nothing, just as I did in the Falthan War.'

She s.h.i.+vered. The cold, she told herself.

The man before her bristled. Nothing about him changed physically, but somehow she sensed the deep well of power within his illusory sh.e.l.l. A strength deep enough to drown her, should he choose.

'I am not accustomed to being defied,' he said.

'It's good for you,' she replied, making her tone light. 'Keeps you human, and that ought to be an ongoing concern for you. It is for me. I don't want to turn into a self-obsessed empire builder. Opposition teaches you to negotiate, to give as well as take.'

'But there are those who would take everything,' he said. 'Stella, I'm out of patience. Make your choice.'

'I'll hear you,' she said, and knew as she uttered them that the words were fateful.

'Then hear me. Two years and more ago a man came to Andratan as part of a delegation from Faltha. This delegation told officials from Malayu they were merchants seeking to solidify trade relations.h.i.+ps. You have no idea how often I have heard similar stories from people desperate to find out if I am real, what I am doing or whether I recovered from the last Falthan War. You would think spies would be a little more creative.'

'You have recovered though,' she said. 'Though I did not need to travel to Andratan to be aware of your progress.'

'You would have been welcomed,' he replied. 'No doubt you kept track of my progress in the same way I did yours, through the link between us. Had you known it, you could have read my mind with a little exertion of your own.'

'Not something I have ever wanted to do,' she said, but it was a lie, and she could see he knew it to be so.

'So the supposed merchants were allowed access to Andratan, though I did not intend to speak to them myself. Such spies are always a.s.sessed for their susceptibility to being turned, and over the years many have been, while remaining totally unaware of it. There are two such living quiet lives in this very city.'

'Is it any wonder I find you so unpleasant?'

'I need the information,' he said, allowing a little of his anger to show. 'It turned out this delegation was from the newly risen Koin.o.bia of Instruere, sent to gather information to enable them to a.s.semble their scrolls. I admired their devotion to duty rather more than their good sense.

'One of the men was not like the others. There was something about him that drew my attention. Something within him, much like you, in fact. A trace, an aroma, of the Most High. Most unexpected in a priest, trust me.'

'No,' said Stella, suddenly suspicious of where this story would lead. No.

'Oh yes, taking religious orders is a most effective way to lock him out. I cast a compliance spell on the man and had him brought to my tower. I had barely begun the interrogation when the fellow broke his bonds, stood up and wandered over to the south window, towing three of my strongest guards behind him.'

Heredrew closed his eyes. He was so caught in his memory that, had she been armed, Stella could have struck him down where he stood.

'He looked out for a moment, then turned and spoke to me. Stella, I have no doubt you remember the servant I a.s.signed to you when you were my guest-'

'Captive,' she retorted.

'Captive, then. I honour the man's memory, though I don't expect you to believe that. I do know he died many years ago, and was buried in front of the Hall of Meeting in Instruere with a full public ceremony. That pleased me.'

Stella found herself shocked at the level of knowledge he displayed of her affairs. She forced herself to make no comment about this. 'You treated him shamefully. For that alone you have earned my undying hatred.'

The man did no more than shrug his shoulders. 'On the day you left me, seventy years ago, and took my servant with you, he spoke to me with the voice of the Most High. I will never forget it, of course. Two years ago I heard the voice of the Most High again, this time from the mouth of a Halite priest.'